"Ralph Nader has formed a presidential exploratory committee, and said in an interview Wednesday that he will launch another presidential bid if he's convinced he can raise enough money to appear on the vast majority of state ballots this fall."

"Today, after John Edwards dropped out I called both campaigns asking them flat out, 'Why should I vote for your candidate?' Hillary's people said they would call back, but the Obama people talked with me for over twenty minutes."

_______

Mr. Irrelevant... except that he will still tie shite up in knots so bad upon exit that it will take 4 years just to untangle them.

"When asked to name the person they had heard the most about in the news lately, 24% of the public named Obama and 23% named Clinton. In a week when he proposed a major economic stimulus plan, just 5% of Americans named George Bush as the person they had heard the most about. About twice as many (11%) named Hollywood actor Heath Ledger, who died last week."

"1 million: Iraqis who have died “as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain’s leading polling groups.” The survey also found that “20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.”"

David Nadelberg created the Mortified experience, including one of the books 'Love Is a Battlefield.'

That's high drama, but it's not so different from the rants, musings and observations that can be seen on getmortified.com, an offshoot of an experimental theater program in which people reveal the most embarrassing moments of their teenage past.

The teenage themes are what you'd expect: sex, insecurity, betrayal and friendships. But the perspectives are hilariously incongruent coming from the mouths of adults.

'She wants it. I want to give it to her. But what is 'it',' says a man at one performance.

'I feel suicidal and sorry but at the same time, Dana is a major [expletive]. I hate life,' says another participant."

"Seven years before The Great Nintendo Wii Drought of 2007 (and, most likely, 2008), gamers faced similar troubles trying to locate units of Sony's unstoppable Playstation 2.

Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, however, was able to scoop up a whopping 4,000 PS2s without so much as a pre-order. And according to a report on the website worldnetdaily.com, the dictator wasn't just planning an all-night LAN party: he was securing PS2s in an effort to build a nefarious military supercomputer, since U.S. customs doesn't consider a 'toy' to be a potential military threat."

"-- Don't wake us. Shhh. Be very, very quiet. We are in a dream. Look at us from above. That's us, running in fields of flowers. Jumping, giddily. Oh, the joy on our happy little face. And no doubt you can see why. Those aren't the Cranky Pants we're wearing. None of that hard, scratchy bitterness, the tight, irritable waistband that makes us so very angry at people and their television shows. No - get a better look. We're wearing Gary Coleman's $400,000 pants!"

_______

I'm pretty sure I already posted this but I didn't spot it during a quick search of the archives. So here it is again. Too funny:

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's show in San Francisco. I've been working feverishly trying to edit all of the pics but it do look like I won't have those ready until Friday's post. Here's a shot in the mean while.

"Herbal Nutrition Center of Los Angeles will make retail history with the debut of the first vending machine of its kind.

The PVM ('prescription vending machine') will dispense medications, including Cannabis, also known as marijuana. A strict verification process is required to obtain an access card to operate the machine, including a face-to-face consultation and fingerprinting."

"Serving the traditional Spanish beverage of sangria could land you in hot water in the southern state of Virginia, but lawmakers were debating Thursday whether to legalize the tapas bar favorite......

Violating the code, which dates from 1934, a year after the end of the Prohibition Era, when alcohol was banned in the United States, is a 'class one misdemeanor, punishable by a 2,500 dollars fine and/or 12 months in jail,' Marshall said."

_______

Very down with the cloning. I was in a theatre production of Brave New World many moons ago. I played Helmholtz Watson.

"It is one of the Holy Grails of science, but also one that stirs deep fears as forseen in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel 'Brave New World' in which natural human reproduction is eschewed in favor of babies grown artificially in laboratories."

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I had a Fonz t-shirt and a sweet Fonz ring when I was a kid. The ring had an actual picture of the Fonz with thumbs pointed decidedly upwards.

"Aaaaaaay! The Fonz will be returning to Milwaukee later this year -- permanently, and in bronze.

A statue of Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarelli, the leather-jacketed biker from 'Happy Days,' will be erected in the city where the TV sitcom was set, now that local groups have raised the $85,000 needed to do it, civic leaders said Friday."

Friday, January 25, 2008

"When the last record came out, we wanted to do a promo where anyone that mailed us their purchase receipt would get a totally free fan-made exclusive DVD of the Drive-By Truckers live in concert. We made the mistake of asking permission, and the concept got killed before it got off the ground.

This time we're not asking permission, and we've come up with a new idea... the NineBullets.org photo contest. That's right, a photo contest. What we want is for you to take a picture of yourself holding the new CD. Really, that's it. Couldn't be any easier, right? We'll be giving away prizes for some of the best submissions, so do a good job, ok?

"This album brings back all that was ever once cool about country, and it does it in spades. Imagine a world of Nudie suits, Elvis, Gram Parsons, the Rolling Stones pretending to be American, pick up trucks and gun porn all rolled into one big gut bucket of chitlins and collards and it'll be the soundtrack to your life."

"Drive-By Truckers take a turn for the Tweedy on the first track of their sixth studio album, washing “Two Daughters And a Beautiful Wife” in the melancholy acoustic guitar the Wilco frontman has favored since the days of Uncle Tupelo. But with a few kicks to the fender and a Bob Seger reference (”Come back baby, rock-n-roll never forgets…”), Brighter Than Creation’s Dark belches some smoke or maybe just belches, and really gets into DBT gear with the spectacular roadhouse stomp of “3 Dimes Down.” It’s exactly the kind of regional pastiche the band has been knocking out of the park since at least the vaunted novellas of Southern Rock Opera, but it’s also the sound of a typical Georgia dive bar on any Friday night."

Pitchfork: You write songs that are without question political, yet rarely explicitly so.

PH: I never want to be that guy spouting off my political views. I mean, they're pretty well known, and it certainly comes out. If something's bugging my ass on any particular day, I'm probably going to say something about it, but I'm not going to go on a tirade. I dislike Bush as much as probably anybody on earth could, but having said that...I've said it, you know? It's not like I'm going to change anybody's mind. I've always thought preaching to the converted is just kind of futile and silly. That's so much of what does occur. I played as a solo act at a Green Party rally in Athens a few years ago; Ralph Nader was there. Everyone got up and gave their long-winded speeches and all that. The crowd clapped, oohed and ahhed and all that. But I was thinking-- they're not changing a single person's mind. There's not a single person in this room that didn't walk in loving what Nader would have to say. Bless his heart, there's a lot things he might say that I might not agree with, but there's a lot of good he might say that would probably be good to hear. But tonight? There's not a person in this room that's going to be converted, you know? They're already converted. I'm more interested in writing about the personal stories of people. Sometimes I don't agree with them.

"Two years ago I attended the ninth annual George Lindsey Film Festival and Gala in Florence, Alabama. I was especially excited about this particular event because the program included a screening of the documentary Dangerous Highway, a film made by my long-time friend Deryle Perryman and the distinguished filmmaker Moises Gonzalez. The Lindsey fest was the premiere of Dangerous Highway, which went on to be shown in festivals coast to coast."

"Bo Bedingfield leads The Wydelles through a set opening for DBT's Nuci's Space benefit. John Neff is a Wydelle when his schedule permits (last time I posted these guys, it didn't); Clay Leverett covers the drums this time around."

"First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Ala., a 1,000-member congregation, expels five to seven members a year for 'blatant, undeniable patterns of willful sin,' which have included adultery, drunkenness and refusal to honor church elders. About 400 people have left the church over the years for what they view as an overly harsh persecution of sinners, Pastor Jeff Noblit says."

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Try this one out on your show Bear Grylls. (Survivor Man (Les Stroud) is way cooler, IMO).

"CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A Canadian man survived 96 hours pinned under his all-terrain vehicle in the Rocky Mountains by eating rotting animal carcasses, drinking melted snow and thinking of his grandchildren, he said on Monday."

"-- Don't wake us. Shhh. Be very, very quiet. We are in a dream. Look at us from above. That's us, running in fields of flowers. Jumping, giddily. Oh, the joy on our happy little face. And no doubt you can see why. Those aren't the Cranky Pants we're wearing. None of that hard, scratchy bitterness, the tight, irritable waistband that makes us so very angry at people and their television shows. No - get a better look. We're wearing Gary Coleman's $400,000 pants!"

"WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements 'were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.'"

"Oh, and don't worry about congressional prerogatives. They'll rediscover them with a vengeance when there's a Democratic president. They'll investigate his or her every move, calling for special prosecutors and generally behaving like asses, at the smallest provocation by the press if it gives them a chance to pontificate grandly on Tim Russert about their own superiority. They don't have the guts to do it when the Republicans are institutionalizing torture or lying the nation into an illegal invasion of another country, because well, Republicans are mean. But they'll find plenty of things about which to get righteously indignant with the executive when its a Democrat. They'll be in hypervenitlating, bipartisan bliss with their Republican cohorts, elbowing each other to be first to the microphone denouncing the latest shocking presidential failure to dot 'i's and cross 't's.

The villagers love to get out the pitchforks ---- against Democrats. They aren't scared of them. It's good fun."

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Heath Ledger, the gifted leading man acclaimed for his role as a gay cowboy in the film 'Brokeback Mountain,' was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, possibly of a drug overdose, police said.

The Australian-born Ledger, 28, was found face down and naked at the foot of the bed by a housekeeper at his apartment in the SoHo neighborhood, police spokesman Paul Browne said."

"Drive-By Truckers' seventh album is a sprawling scorcher, and while these guys certainly aren't strangers to long records, 'Brighter Than Creation's Dark' is one of the meanest, leanest 19-track albums you'll ever spin. Yet where DBT usually hits the ground running, 'Dark' is deliberately slower to burn, full of beautifully considered stories of soldiers and fathers and drinkers that call to mind nothing less than 'The River.' A surprisingly prolific Mike Cooley turns in the countried-up 'Bob,' 'A Ghost to Most' and the rocker 'Self-Destructive Zones,' all smooth-going-down shots of squinty-eyed, serrated humor, while Patterson Hood is in never-better form on 'Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife' and 'Monument Valley,' the record's John Ford-quoting closer. 'Dark' also benefits from the expanded roles given pedal-steel maestro John Neff and bassist Shonna Tucker, whose first DBT tracks (including the shimmering 'The Purgatory Line') channel Patty Griffin and whose harmony vocals add welcome, newfound atmosphere. —Jeff Vrabel"

THE eighth album from this protean band completes one of the widest mood swings in recent rock history. After specializing in thematically cohesive albums and a revitalized brand of Southern rock, the Athens, Ga.-based Truckers are now all over the place.

That figures, given the changes in the group's core makeup. Rock-leaning guitarist Jason Isbell has gone solo, founding guitarist and pedal steel player John Neff is back, soul eminence Spooner Oldham plays piano and organ on the new album (in stores Tuesday), and bassist Shonna Tucker contributes her first songs."

"And 'That Man I Shot' is a blazing, troubling masterpiece in which a soldier home from Iraq can't tear away the memory of a man he killed in combat ('That man I shot, I didn't know him/I was just doing my job, maybe so was he'). It's a tale of the most human consequences of war that's built from equal portions of anger, confusion, and compassion, and it's hard to imagine any other band pulling off its fusion of Southern-fried street smarts and guitar-fueled thunder. It's one of several brilliant moments on Brighter Than Creation's Dark, and less than three weeks into 2008 it's hard not to escape the feeling that with this disc we may already have the best album of the year."

Through a half-dozen studio albums since 1998 the Drive-By Truckers have revealed a mission: come up with a song for every kind of person in the modern American South. There are 19 more on their new album, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,” including family men, criminals, drunks, workers, addicts, soldiers, even musicians. The music is a wide-ranging idea of Southern rock that draws on not only the amalgams made by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, but also on their sources and roots. Over the past decade songs from the Drive-By Truckers have juxtaposed observation and fiction, autobiography and allegory, but not a lot of ego.

The band was founded by the songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. They make the songwriter the lead singer, so the band regularly switches between the high, weary voice of Mr. Hood and the growly drawl of Mr. Cooley. On this album another singer and songwriter steps forward: Shonna Tucker, who has been the band’s bassist since 2003. (Her ex-husband, Jason Isbell, left the Drive-By Truckers and started a solo career last year.) On its way to depicting the entire South, with Ms. Tucker the band now has a gutsy voice representing women too. She works up to muscular roots-rock in “Home Field Advantage.”

Instead of aiming for a particular trademark sound, the Drive-By Truckers have always let the song dictate the style. They can be noisy and turbulent, as in “That Man I Shot,” a soldier’s postbattle reactions set to a feedback-drenched Crazy Horse stomp, or steadfast and long-suffering, as in the album’s other Iraq war song, “The Home Front,” Mr. Hood’s sketch of a soldier’s family.

They can be calm in pedal-steel-topped ballads like “Bob” (“He always had more dogs than he ever had friends”) and “Daddy Needs a Drink.” They can play straightforward country, like “Lisa’s Birthday” (“It’s a good thing her dancing shoes don’t run on gasoline”), or nearly avant-garde rock, like the piano drone of “You and Your Crystal Meth.”

This is a typically crowded Drive-By Truckers album; it doesn’t need all 19 songs. But the overload is part of the point. In this band’s America all kinds of characters show up. JON PARELES

Monday, January 21, 2008

"WASHINGTON - Apparent gaps in White House e-mail archives coincide with dates in late 2003 and early 2004 when the administration was struggling to deal with the CIA leak investigation and the possibility of a congressional probe into Iraq intelligence failures.

The gaps — 473 days over a period of 20 months — are cited in a chart prepared by White House computer technicians and shared in September with the House Reform and Government Oversight Committee, which has been looking into reports of missing e-mail.

Among the times for which e-mail may not have been archived from Vice President Dick Cheney's office are four days in early October 2003, just as a federal probe was beginning into the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA identity, an inquiry that eventually ensnared Cheney's chief of staff."

"When the Gulfstream lands in St. Bart's, can you have your assistant set up a call? We need to talk.

Look, you've had a pretty good deal these past few years. We gave you everything you wanted. Massive reductions in the top income-tax rates? Happy to oblige. Cuts on dividends and capital gains taxes, which overwhelmingly benefit you? No problem. Going after the estate tax—excuse me, the death tax? You got it. We've even agreed to overlook the fact that you private-equity and hedge-fund managers pay only a 15 percent tax rate."

_______

News to some but in San Francisco any space available for rent was probably at one time or the other a head shop. Who the hell calls it a 'bong shop' anyway? Kinda like 'Food Library'.

"A California company announced Thursday that it has created cloned human embryos from adult skin cells, a breakthrough which could ultimately lead to the development of cures for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, and other untreatable ailments."

“And besides you’re a ghost to most before they notice that you ever had a hair or a hide.” – “A Ghost to Most” by Mike Cooley, Drive-By Truckers

Let me be among the first to lazily label Drive-By Truckers’ latest album their Exile on Main Street. Clocking in at 19 songs (!) and sharing the stylistic reach of the Stones’ volcanic mess, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the latest in an impressive stretch of career-defining albums. Coming less than two years after the somewhat underrated A Blessing and A Curse, the new album finds the band occasionally tinkering with their successful formula but mostly just adding to their already stellar (and steadily growing) discography.

"As the clock struck midnight last evening (Jan. 10), Athens, Georgia's Drive-By Truckers took the stage in a tightly packed 40 Watt Club to debut tunes from their forthcoming LP, Brighter Than Creation's Dark (out Jan. 22 via New West). Really, it was a humble celebration as the alt-country quintet performed Brighter in its entirety while all show proceeds were donated to Nuci's Space, a non-profit organization benefiting the mental and musical wellness of the Athens performing community. At the mic, bearded frontman Patterson Hood ultimately claimed Alabama as home, but excited concertgoers knew well enough that Athens is truly the band's haven as he exclaimed, 'Athens, Georgia... I think I like y'all!'"

"First off, I’ve never been to Athens, never really been anywhere south of Southern Indiana, and now I live in LA. But at breakfast with my wife our first morning in Athens we started discussing what it would take to move there. Honestly, we couldn’t have had a better weekend.

Here’s my review of the shows: Friday night was one of the best shows I’ve seen ever…Saturday was twice as good. Really really amazing.

As for the rest of the weekend, we had a blast drinking at The Roadhouse on Friday where everyone was as cool as could be. When people started suggesting restaurants to us, I mentioned that I had already printed a list of places that Jenn sent out on ninebullets. And not only did everyone there say they knew Jenn, but they all pretty much said that Jenn is their best friend. Anyway, we walked out of there really drunk, with a couple free tshirts, and a ridiculously small bar tab. I love the prices in that town.

So thank you Jenn for the list and allowing us to make some friends, thank you Athens for showing us a great time, and thank you DBT for two truly amazing shows.

-JC"

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Vids from the Athen's Shows!

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Brent Best tears "The Man" a new asshole. This really is a joke (but not funny ha-ha).

"As Best himself recently put it on the popular Denton Rock City message board, 'I am an ASCAP member. This means that I should collect money, based upon their system of the tracking of 'use' proportional to said 'use' of my music. Problem is, their bullshit system is the biggest one-sided bell curve you've ever seen...In the end, I, or anyone else 'represented' by ASCAP make no money proportional to what I sell or what of mine is used unless or until I'm as big as Mariah Carey or who-the-fuck-ever. In fact, all those publishing songwriters affiliated with ASCAP who aren't on that monetary level actually make money for those who are. If I go from selling 10,000 albums a year to 40,000, along with the predictable increase in 'use' (such as jukebox plays and the like), I will never see a proportional increase in royalty payout from ASCAP. Instead, the extra money I earn, along with the thousands of other artists on the lower rungs earning progressively more, will go the top 2 or 3 percent of ASCAP artists already earning millions a year from their vapid shit.' (The fact that Candilora mentioned favored Celine Dion songwriter and schlockmeister Diane Warren while conversing on the subject kinda sorta almost confirms this, in my mind at least.)"

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Check out some in studio pics of Sons of Roswell. That producer guy looks damn familiar.

"Buried in a 'music-industry-screwed' roundup in the Economist is this nugget: An allegation that music label EMI was spending $400,000 a year on party favors (booze, drugs, women, whatever) for its talent:

Now, having got rid of most of EMI's senior managers and revealed embarrassing details of their spending habits (�200,000 a year went on sundries euphemistically referred to in the music business as “fruit and flowers”), Terra Firma is due to produce a new strategy later this month. But many observers reckon the private-equity men are out of their depth."

"The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving."

"President Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel's Holocaust memorial Friday and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the U.S. should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing, the memorial's chairman said."

________

Mitt the Mo is going to save the south. Well, yee-freakin'-haw.

Yo, Mitt, some Yankee has been saying this to the South in some form or fashion since 1866.

"BLUFFTON, S.C. - Mitt Romney on Wednesday swapped talk of resurrecting the auto industry that helped him in Michigan with a pledge to pay attention to textile and other industrial job losses that have punished the South.

"WASHINGTON - U.S. insurance companies systematically overcharge customers and underpay home and auto claims to pad their already-fat bottom lines, a consumer group said Thursday.

The Consumer Federation of America's insurance director, J. Robert Hunter, said insurance companies have enjoyed robust profits and contained losses largely by 'methodically overcharging consumers, cutting back on coverage, underpaying claims and getting taxpayers to pick up some of the tab for risks the insurers should cover."

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

"(The Politico) Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) is urging the House Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney, despite opposition from House Democratic leaders.

Wexler, who first gained national attention for defending former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment in 1998, said Cheney has to be ousted in order to restore the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, which in his view, has been eroded by an ever-expanding claim of authority under Cheney and President Bush.

'There's a litany of issues that need to be heard,' Wexler said. 'This administration has abused the power of executive privilege. This administration has completely avoided testifying before Congress on any one of a host of six, seven, eight issues."

"WASHINGTON - The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of e-mail before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone forever.

The disclosure came minutes before midnight Tuesday under a court-ordered deadline that forced the White House to reveal information it has previously refused to provide."

"The United States Constitution never uses the word 'God' or makes mention of any religion, drawing its sole authority from 'We the People.' However, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks it's time to put an end to that.

'I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution,' Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. 'But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.'

_______

Huckabee as president or an anal probe..... Huckabee or anal probe.... tough decision.

"Dozens of eyewitnesses have reported seeing a mile-long UFO being pursued by fighter jets last week in the small town of Stephenville, Texas. 'It was very intense bright lights ... and they spanned a wide area,' said one woman."

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

"(01-12) 17:00 PST HALF MOON BAY -- Thousands of big-wave surfing fans straggled onto a small beach north of Half Moon Bay this morning to watch - or try to watch - the greatest surfers in the world battle the worst that the Pacific Ocean can throw at them.

Watching the fabled Mavericks contest from the beach seemed nearly as challenging as riding the waves themselves, as close-in waves blocked the view of the waves that the competitors were riding about a half-mile offshore."

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Their fried chicken will make you want to slap yo mama. Pork belly is very nice, too.

Some restaurants simply fuel the body, while others, such as 1300 on Fillmore, ignite the imagination.

The restaurant is in the lower Fillmore, an area that once was the epicenter for jazz and attracted talent such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The neighborhood fell into disrepair in the late 1950s, and became the victim of misguided social policy. Many Victorians that housed the clubs were torn down, leaving large gaps in what was once a vital community.

Now the area, known as the Fillmore Jazz Preservation District, is bustling again, with new housing developments, Yoshi's jazz club and 1300 on Fillmore anchoring the corner of Fillmore and Eddy streets. Although 1300 is located in the bottom of a new condominium complex, the combination of sophisticated and historic touches envelop patrons with a sense of history and awe.

Chef-owner David Lawrence, who has been a prominent name about town for several decades, working at the Hilton and the Carnelian Room, has struck out on his own. He's serving a food he calls "soulful American," a stylish mix of French techniques and Southern-inspired recipes that include bourbon-braised pork belly on shelled white bean puree ($11) and grilled pork chops ($25), brined and served with caramelized chicory and a Calvados apple cider sauce.

"A man claiming to be a Catholic priest was arrested Friday at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after he was caught carrying 7.7 pounds of cocaine under his robes, a spokesman for Dutch border police said.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Something about a 3 night run of shows by some band from Athens or something happened this weekend? Not that I keep up with such things, but I hear that these.... how do you say.... ROCK STARS pictured below tore some faces off for 3 nights in a row?

So sad I couldn't be there. However, I did draft two reporters for the cause. One being Shayne because she called and begged, just begged to do something for the blog. I, reluctantly, relented.

Actually, Shayne kicked much ass by calling during the shows and letting me hear a snippet or two.

She and Todd Beane from Glossary drunk dialed me on Friday night. Probably the first time I've talked to Todd in 20 years. A real treat.

Check out Shayne's blog for a Thursday night behind the scenes review:

"Last night was the first night of the three day DBT bender at the 40 Watt. The TMcB and I strolled in as the tallest man in rock and roll, (tall, not so hard working) Bo Bedingfield and the Wydelles were starting their second song. What can I say about Bo…(that would be ok for his family to read, well, I mean, besides his sister Beth) They sounded dead on, with john Neff pulling double duty. Kelly and I were placing bets on how long it would take Clay to pull down his drum mic and start singing. No covers of Tumbling Dice, but he got us a few songs later when they closed with my favorite John Prine’s “Pretty Good”

Benny was my photo journalist. I sent him A.A.W. credentials that gave him access to practically anywhere (since A.A.W. is a low budget operation the 'credentials' were just a piece of gaffers tape with A.A.W. Sharpied on it.)

Here's Benny with some fine Wes Freed Art work:

And here's Benny with Wes Freed.

Chillin in the Freed's lounge.

Cuddling with The Matador. Not sure what that's about but Benn does get affectionate when he drinks too much.

"Last night was one of the best shows I've ever seen them do. The vibe was fantastic in the club and on the stage. John Neff just tore it up; he was so good he made me want to simultaneously laugh and cry, and Spooner was in rare form and oh so tasty. I can't tell you how much I love Shonna's songs live especially - she just blows me away. Her brother was just glowing last night he's so proud of her."

NB has a ton of stuff wrapping up the weekend so be sure to go on over and spend some quality time with them today:

Friday, January 11, 2008

1st night of the 3 night run is in the books. I thought I had acquired a field reporter with boots on the ground but she (Shayne!) forgot her camera. However, she did submit a review of the show. It follows:

"it was AWESOME"

I'm really glad I'm not paying her.

Update: Though, Shayne did an excellent job of calling in and holding the phone up so I could hear some songage. You rock, Shayne!

1) When the new songs are played live, there are more rockers on this album than you think just listening to the album.

2) The ones that aren't necessarily your typical rockers are still amazing. Many of them have Neff absolutely blowing up the pedal steel. This gives this album a more country feel which just might get them more radio play and some new exposure to a different audience.

3) Shonna was awesome. Home Field Advantage was a fantastic rocker live - maybe my favorite surprise of the night.

4) Other highlights for me tonight (although I liked them all): The Righteous Path, Self Destructive Zones, The Opening Act, That Man I Shot, Purgatory Line, Checkout Time in Vegas, Goode's Field Road, A Ghost To Most"

"All musicians have a tough time balancing life and art, making rent and making music, and only a handful have been able to say they're able to make a living from playing their hearts out night after night. Drive-By Truckers guitarist and songwriter Patterson Hood is one of the few, and the path to that point hasn't been without heavy tumult. Last year, the band parted ways with guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell, who's gone on to pursue a solo career."

Patterson makes a clarification to the editor, though:

My Rant (Clarification and Update)

I'd like to thank you, Flagpole, and Chris for the superb coverage given to our band this week as we release our new album, play a homecoming show and do our Nuci Benefit.

I'm afraid Chris caught me on a particularly bad day during a very stressful and heated time of bad relations between us and our label. While my rant reflected how I felt that day and some of my anger and frustration was from issues simmering for several years I would like to clarify a couple of points that were lost in my heated tirade.

1. George Fontaine is a locally known and respected figure, an alumni and someone who has helped many worthy causes in this town. His affiliation with our label is well known, but he has always been far outside of the issues I was addressing. George has been a friend of mine and Drive-By Truckers since long before we ever signed a record deal and hopefully will continue to be for all the years to come. I have never known a better or sweeter human being and hold him and his family in the highest utmost regard. I regret any embarrassment or ill-feeling my tirade might have caused.

2. When discussing the Black Crowes tour a couple of years ago, I alluded to the miserable time we had, but failed to clarify that it was mostly due to timing and a particularly bad period in our band's dynamic. The Black Crowes' Organization (Band, Crew, Management and Personnel) ALL were extremely kind to us on every level. They were supreme gentlemen and I sincerely hope that my rant didn't imply otherwise in any way.

This is a messy business and I never got into all of this to be a businessman. In the month since my interview, we have all attempted to move forward in good faith and for the mutual good of both label and band and for the benefit of our new album, which I am fiercely proud of. While my anger that day still simmers over some issues, we are all moving forward and eager to put those bad times behind us. I'm feeling somewhat better and tonight I get to Rock.

Thank You for your time and support.Sincerely,Patterson HoodDrive-By Truckers

"Prospects were poor for what turns out to be an overflowing song bag of an album by Lynyrd Skynyrd's arty nephews. Their last winner was 2004's The Dirty South, preceded by two others in close succession but followed by the disoriented A Blessing and a Curse and then the loss of tenor-songwriter Jason Isbell. Welcome though her gender bend is, bassist and Isbell ex Shonna Tucker doesn't compensate by writing and singing. But Mike Cooley is on his game — the pro-bad-girl 'Lisa's Birthday' and pro-weird-guy 'Bob' shoot exceptionally straight. And knowing he has to carry the team, Patterson Hood executes — scene-setters about domestic life as celestial respite, endless struggle and occasion to drink; dark-siders about crystal meth (named) and suicide (implied); memoir of an opening act on the road; and two agonizing Iraq songs, one of which sinks pained voice into guitar attack, strength against strength. You could argue that the Truckers should have revved up this Skynyrd side more often. But instead they let the songwriting speak for itself, and it sings loud and clear."

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Let's not forget that Mr. Isbell and the boys will be embarking on a MASSIVE tour starting tomorrow. Be sure to get out there and go see 'em.

I'm stoked for the 26th of this month as JI400 will be playing Slims in SF.

It’s fitting that I’m writing this review now rather than when this album was originally released over the summer. I’ve had the luck of seeing Jason Isbell live three times this year (and it’ll be four by the time the year is officially over), in addition to interviewing him. My love of the Drive-by Truckers and Jason’s songwriting is pretty obvious to even casual readers/listeners of the blog/radio show. So I sometimes stay away from reviewing albums like this when they first come out - my opinions are bound to be affected by my unabashed fan-dom. For listeners who are fellow lovers of Isbell and his like that’s not a bad thing necessarily. If another person who listens often loves it, they probably will as well. But for people new to the music, does a die hard fan’s notes on an album really give them insight to the merits of the record? This is why the intervening months have given me a good perspective on this album - not only with the numerous listens to it that time has afforded me, but also the numerous live incarnations I’ve gotten to absorb as well.

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Sons of Roswell

SOR has been in the studio recording. JD has been posting some excellent blogs about the process. Jason Isbell is producing so this should be one hell of a record. I'm very excited to see this one come out.

"For those fans of Two Cow Garage, Micah and his father, John, have released a second collaboration. This follow-up to last years father/son release 'Inheritance', is called 'Prism Halo on a Quarter Moon'.

These discs both have a more acoustic tone to them, and gives us a chance to hear songs John, as well as Micahs stuff, that most likely won't make a Two Cow disc.You can contact John at cledus56@.... Same as last time, $5 gets the cd and goes to help keep the band on the road; they leave for Europe in 3 weeks."

"FOLSOM, Calif. (AP) — A concert marking the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's famous concert at Folsom State Prison has been scraped, with the prison and the promoter blaming each other for the cancellation.

The tribute concert, scheduled for Sunday, was to have been staged in the same prison cafeteria where Cash performed before inmates on Jan. 13, 1968. That breakthrough performance became a popular live album."

"'I can't think of probably a single issue in which I am even remotely in the same universe as that guy ... and yet, he was kind of charming and ... self-deprecating,' Stipe told Jane Radio host Jane Pratt, a day after watching Huckabee's Thursday appearance on CBS' 'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Thursday, January 10, 2008

To all you lucky bastards and bitches that will be in Athens GA over the next 3 days I say to thee..... you suck. No, not really, but I am a wee (if 'wee' means 'a butt-load') bit jealous that my shiney ass won't be in attendance.

Here's another look at my recent trip to Athens, GA. If any of y'all see Shayne be sure to smack her upside the back of her head and tell her it was from me. If you see Jenn hug her neck for me. If you see....

Also, if yer in town be sure to check out the pre-party held by Nuci's. Go bid on some excellent swag.

After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: 'OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.'"

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You would figure this would bring the couple closer, finding they had a common interest. Alas, they divorced.

"WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town."

The Bush administration is now talking about expanding their little mortgage bail out to people with prime loans too. That means pretty much everyone who simply gambled and lost or just didn't want to pay their bills on time. And what's worse, it means people who pay a lot less than you for the same mortgage will get to keep that sweet little deal for the next five years, courtesy of the Bush administration, simply because they didn't pay their bills on time and you did. Yes, they not only pay less than you each month for the same freaking mortgage, but because they didn't pay their bills on time, they get to keep paying less than you for years to come. Had they paid their bills on time, or simply not gambled, their mortgage payment would now be in line with yours, or even higher. But why not reward stupidity? We've been doing it for 7 years"

"Women who doll up with too much perfume might not know it because they're depressed.

That's the conclusion of Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld, a physician and autoimmune disease researcher at Tel Aviv University in Israel who studies 'autoantibodies.' This class of chemicals launches attacks against the body's cells, often in patients with autoimmune disease such as lupus.

'Our scientific findings suggest that women who are depressed are also losing their sense of smell, and may overcompensate by using more perfume,' he said."

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As someone who often has sinus issues (I've broken my nose 3 times) I'm going to give this a try. I'll let you know how it goes.

"Originally part of a millennia-old Indian yogic tradition, the practice of nasal irrigation — jala neti — is performed with a small pot that looks like a cross between Aladdin’s lamp and your grandmother’s gravy boat. The neti pot made its way into this country in the early 1970s as a yoga meditation device, but even as yoga became mainstream, the neti pot remained on the fringes of alternative culture.

That is, until now. Due to a confluence of influences, the neti pot is having what can only be termed a moment, sold in drugstores, health food stores, even at Wal-Mart and Walgreens."

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

We're the greatest country in the world, really? Culture of life, really? Pro-life, really?

Only if it doesn't get in the way of profit. We may be losing 100k U.S. citizens a year to preventable health care issues, but thank GOD the insurance and pill pushing industries are making healthy profits.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs."

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Our politicians need not worry about passing from a preventable health care issue. They sleep well at night knowing they are covered by 'socialized' health care. Damn communist too afraid to die like a real American.

"Last month, the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee ran ads in Iowa newspapers advocating for a single-payer health-care bill, highlighting the fact Vice President Dick Cheney has benefited from his government-provided coverage. “If he were anyone else, he’d probably be dead by now” due to his long history of health problems, claimed the ad.

In the group’s newest round of ads, which ran “in eight New Hampshire papers” on Friday and will go “national” today, they dub a new name for “guaranteed, publicly-funded health care for all Americans”: CheneyCare."

"But he said that probably the 'most historically significant feature' of the declassified report was the retelling of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.

That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to president Lyndon Johnson's sharp escalation of American forces in Vietnam.

The author of the report 'demonstrates that not only is it not true, as (then US) secretary of defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of an attack was 'unimpeachable,' but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that 'no attack happened that night,'' FAS said in a statement.

'What this study demonstrated is that the available intelligence shows that there was no attack. It's a dramatic reversal of the historical record,' Aftergood said."

New research conducted by brain researcher Avi Karni of the University of Haifa in Israel explores the possibility that naps help lock in sometimes fleeting long-term memories. A 90-minute daytime snooze might help the most, the study finds.

'We still don't know the exact mechanism of the memory process that occurs during sleep, but the results of this research suggest the possibility that it is possible to speed up memory consolidation,' Karni said. 'In the future, we may be able to do it artificially.'"

"When authorities arrived at the home, they found Shearer's mutilated body, one ear boiling in a pot of water on the stove and a fork sticking out of some human flesh sitting on a plate on the kitchen table."